1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an end-to-end quality-of-service (QoS) interoperation method in a heterogeneous network environment. In particular, the present invention relates to an end-to-end QoS interoperation method between a 3rd Party Partnership Project (3GPP) network and a non-3GPP network in a heterogeneous network environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
A configuration of the next generation communication network is expected to assume a form in which various types of wire/wireless networks coexist, centering around a core network. In the heterogeneous network environment where heterogeneous networks are connected to each other, in order to effectively support multimedia service quality, there is a need for consistent end-to-end QoS control architecture and signaling technology.
Of the conventional QoS related protocols, IEFT Next Steps In Signaling (NSIS) has no QoS interoperation technique with a 3GPP network. International Telecommunication Union-Telecom (ITU-T) H.360 (an architecture for End-to-End QoS Control and Signaling) presents an end-to-end QoS architecture but fails to present a detailed QoS signaling procedure provided taking the detailed network into account. In addition, 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 23.107 and TS 23.207 present signaling limited to the 3GPP network, and merely present a part of the signaling procedure for the use of Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP). That is, because 3GPP TS 23.107 and TS 23.207 do not specify the use of the RSVP in an Internet Protocol (IP)-based Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) network, the RSVP is not initiated in a Gateway General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node (GGSN) and a User Equipment (UE) executes an RSVP message after performing a Packet Data Protocol (PDP) Context Activation procedure, causing a reduction in the speed of resource reservation. In addition, the RSVP, as it does not have a configuration for delivering 3GPP QoS information, does not support mobility, has a low-extendability problem, and has difficulty in supporting QoS between heterogeneous networks.
The possible problems of the QoS signaling scheme in the current 3GPP network are as follows. First, the QoS signaling scheme cannot transport 3GPP QoS information between the ends. Second, PDP context signaling is limited only to one UMTS network. Third, there is a need for an efficient IP level signaling protocol used in an All IP-based UMTS network. Fourth, there is no protocol for QoS support between a 3GPP network and a heterogeneous network.
Therefore, the foregoing problems cause QoS resource reservation of the receiving-side 3GPP network not to be performed in a required level, make IP level resource reservation of the All IP-base UMTS network difficult, and make end-to-end QoS support difficult in the environment where a 3GPP network and a non-3GPP network coexist.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved end-to-end QOS interoperation apparatus and method for use in a heterogeneous network environment.